Friday, March 6

The Weekly Shtikle - Tetzaveh / Zachor

A Weekly Shtikle mazal tov to my nephew Yaakov Levy of Monsey on his Bar Mitzvah this Shabbos. Mazal tov to the extended Bulka and Levy mishpachos including Oma Jakobovits.

On the bottom of the me'il, the tunic that the kohein gadol wore, were golden bells. The pasuk explains (28:35), "his/its sound shall be heard when he enters the holy." Rabbeinu Bachye offers an alternative understanding that deviates from the traditional way this pasuk is translated. The voice is actually referring to the kohein gadol himself. His voice is heard when he enters the holy and he prays for the nation. This is a summary of all of the vestements that he wears. If properly worn, his tefillos will be accepted.

The traditional understanding, however, is that the bells provide a warning of the kohein gadol's approach and so he does not simply appear unannounced. This is the sound referred to in the pasuk. Rabbeinu Bachye provides a timely connection to Megillas Esther which we will be soon be reading. Esther's great fear in attempting to beseech Achashveirosh's mercy was that she had not been invited and (4:11) "everyone knows that someone who enters the inner court uninvited has but one fate – death." We see from here that appearing uninvited is not tolerated by human royalty and therefore, is certainly not suitable for Divine royalty either.

This does bring up a question. When Vashti publicly spurned Achashveirosh's invitation, there was a whole tribunal to discuss her fate. It seems that appearing before the king uninvited is considered far more drastic than failing to appear when summoned. Why would this be? We have a couple of days to think about it.